Sinterklaasjournaal presenter stops TV work; Needs nose amputation due to cancer

Dieuwertje Blok is stopping all her work for the time being. Her nose has to be amputated because of cancer, the 66-year-old presenter best known for her work on the annual kids’ show Sinterklaasjournaal announced in an interview with the Volkskrant.

Blok hopes that her interview will help prepare people for “a big shock,” she said, describing the surgery as “mutilating.” She will disappear from the public for a while after her surgery, but won’t stay away forever. “I want to be in control. At some point, I will go outside again and then I like the idea that people know what it is and how I feel about it.”

This journey started for Blok with a small hard spot in her nose, which later turned out to be skin cancer. The disease proved resistant to all other treatment options, and amputation is the only remaining option to prevent the risk of metastases. That was a big shock that took some time to process, she said. “Now I think: Get rid of that cancer. It was my nose or my life. And then there was no longer a moment when I wanted to choose my nose.”

Whether Blok will return to the Sinterklaasjournaal, which she has been presenting since 2001, is still very uncertain. She can imagine returning with a nice prosthesis, but added: “I can also imagine that it all stops here for me.”

Broadcaster NTR told NOS that it will keep the door to the Sinterklaasjournaal open for Blok. The broadcaster spoke of a very nasty, difficult, and almost unimaginable situation for its presenter. “But Dieuwertje is coping with the humor and optimism we know from her. We are now thinking first and only of her recovery because Dieuwertje’s health is, of course, the most important thing.”